Member Sign In

You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate but affiliated companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.

If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.

Pfizer to Pay $1.25 Million to Isis

You have chosen to follow this author. You will receive an email notification when this author publishes a new article. Click submit to continue.

You are alredy following the Author

The Author could not be added at this time, please try again later. If problem persists, please contact Zacks Customer support.

Please Login

Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ISIS - Analyst Report) recently announced that Pfizer Inc. (PFE - Analyst Report) will move EXC 001 (also known as as PF-06473871) into a phase II study. Consequently, Isis Pharma will get $1.25 million from Pfizer as a contingent payment.

EXC 001 is being developed for the treatment of fibrotic diseases including scarring. EXC 001 has been developed by erstwhile Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in collaboration with Isis Pharma.

EXC 001 works by targeting connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), a growth factor that is over-expressed in damaged skin or tissue following a traumatic event. In previous clinical trials, the candidate demonstrated impressive efficacy profile and was found to be safe and well-tolerated.

Last year, Pfizer acquired Excaliard, thereby gaining rights to EXC 001. Isis Pharma received $4.4 million from the sale of its equity ownership in Excaliard and is eligible to receive an additional $9.6 million (including the $1.25 million mentioned above) in contingent payments.

Isis Phama also has an exclusive worldwide license agreement for the development and commercialization of EXC 001, under which it is eligible to get milestone payments and royalties

Our Recommendation

We currently have an Outperform recommendation on Isis Pharma. Isis Pharma received a major boost in October 2012 when the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted (9 - 6) in favor of approving the company’s lead pipeline candidate, Kynamro (mipomersen). A final response from the FDA should be out in January 2013. Meanwhile, Kynamro could be approved and launched in the EU by year end.

We believe that antisense technology (the main area of focus at Isis) represents an exciting and potentially revolutionary platform for developing therapeutic candidates to treat a wide margin of diseases.

Top Zacks Features

Is it Time to Sell?

One of the most important steps you can take today is to set up your portfolio tracker on Zacks.com. Once you do, you'll be notified of major events affecting your stocks and/or funds with daily email alerts.

Zacks Research is Reported On:

At the center of everything we do is a strong commitment to independent research and sharing its profitable discoveries with investors. This dedication to giving investors a trading advantage led to the creation of our proven Zacks Rank stock-rating system. Since 1986 it has nearly tripled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +26% per year. These returns cover a period from 1986-2011 and were examined and attested by Baker Tilly, an independent accounting firm.

Visit performance for information about the performance numbers displayed above.